Mr. Monk's Other Brother
Mr. Monk's Other Brother" is the tenth episode of the 7th season of Monk. Plot In his apartment, Adrian Monk is making pancakes on his griddle (a process made more complicated by the fact that he then cuts them into squares) while listening to a news broadcast about a prison escape at the Bayside Correctional Facility. A prisoner named Joe Endicott apparently crawled through the sewers, killed a woman in the parking lot, and made his getaway. A statewide manhunt is underway and Endicott is being considered armed and extremely dangerous. Suddenly, someone breaks into Monk's apartment. Monk grabs his lockbox but is unable to get it open, so he clubs the intruder over the head with the box and discovers it's Joe Endicott, the fugitive. But "Endicott" reveals that he is really Jack Monk Jr., Adrian's half-brother, and he begs for Adrian's help. After convincing Adrian to not call 911 and turn him in, Jack explains that he was using the name "Joe Endicott" when he was arrested for selling stolen cars. He admits he broke out of prison but swears he didn't kill anyone. Unconvinced, Adrian starts to call the police again but Jack says he needs Adrian to prove that he didn't kill the woman he's been accused of murdering. He claims that the victim was already dead when he found her in the parking lot. Adrian stops listening at the part where Jack says he crawled through the sewers to escape. A shower and a shave later, Adrian insists that Jack turn himself in but Jack refuses to go back to jail and asks about Ambrose. He explains that the reason he can't go back is because the victim who was killed was a woman named Lindsey Bishop, the prison's social worker, who helped inmates write their appeals. Everyone loved her, inmates and staff alike. Jack fears that if he goes back and the other prisoners think he did it, he won't last long before someone kills him, and by now he could be halfway to Paraguay. He asks Adrian to clear his name and promises to go back to prison when he does. Here's what (Jack says) Happened Jack says that he couldn't stand spending several years behind bars, and figured it was time to bust out of jail. It took him two months (and at least 87 spoons) to carve a tunnel into the sewer - he was lucky because he didn't have a cellmate. After lights out time in the joint, he made his way down the tunnel and through the sewers, and emerged above ground at the parking lot just outside the prison fence at around 3:00 AM that morning. Jack saw Lindsey's car parked nearby, and thought he could steal it. But when he got over there and opened the door, her body fell out. Jack grabbed her cell phone and tried to call for help, but he was forced to flee when the guard in the tower spotted and then opened fire on him. Adrian notes that Jack's story in short is this: some homicidal maniac was strolling by the prison, saw the car, stabbed the driver, and then ran off instead of stealing the car. Adrian doesn't believe Jack's story and prepares to call the police, but Jack asks him to talk to his mother, Darlene, of Amarillo, Texas, first. Jack calls her and Darlene begs Adrian for help. She starts crying and Adrian can't bring himself to turn her down. Adrian and Jack go to the crime scene, where they meet with Natalie Teeger, Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher. To protect Jack, Adrian introduces him to the others as his "penpal" Jack Gretzky from eastern Canada (and who, despite his name, is not related to hockey player Wayne Gretzky). However, Stottlemeyer notices that Jack appears to be acting very nervous. Randy arrives in his own car, carrying Tom Bennett, the prison warden, and Daniel Reese, the guard who fired on Jack as he escaped and who raised the alarm. Stottlemeyer tells them that the police have assembled a task force working with the city's sheriff's department, and "Endicott" won't make it very far. Bennett says that he takes the murder personally since Lindsey Bishop was liked by inmates and staff alike. Adrian learns that Lindsey was stabbed in the chest with an improvised blade made from a piece of Sterling silverware - the handle still has part of the maker's mark "GOSF" on it. It's clear that someone smuggled it into the prison. When Adrian cross-examines Reese's statement, Reese admits he didn't see the escapee kill Lindsey. What is confusing to Monk and to Stottlemeyer is simply, what was Lindsey doing in the parking lot at 3:00 AM? Reese explains that Lindsey frequently worked late, dedicated to the job. Just then, the search team arrives with their dogs, which have obviously picked up Jack's scent. To avoid being caught, Adrian and Jack quickly escape to a diner elsewhere in town. Adrian tells Jack that Lindsey's cell phone was where he said it would be, and it looks like he was right in that someone is framing him - there was also no blood on the clothes Jack was wearing when he escaped. Adrian asks Jack if anyone knew he was making an escape. Jack insists that nobody knew about his plan, but his cellmate, Norman "Shiv" Logan, knew. Adrian points out to Jack that he said before that he didn't have a cellmate. It becomes clear that he is a chronic liar. Jack quickly recants, saying that Shiv Logan had actually already carved the tunnel himself - he had somehow managed to acquire an actual chisel. The day before the escape, Jack was moved into Logan's cell, and Jack "borrowed" his escape route. When Logan showed him the tunnel, Jack knocked him out and crawled down the hole. Adrian says they need to talk to Logan but Jack protests, saying if they do then he will realize Jack is involved. Adrian agrees. He mentions that he will have Stottlemeyer go to the prison to talk to Logan, while he and Jack go to Lindsey Bishop's house. While they are at the diner, Jack briefly flirts with a Paraguayan waitress but not in Spanish, but Guarani -- the other official language of the country. When Adrian and Jack arrive at the house, Jack breaks out into fake tears, claiming to be Lindsey's distant brother, in order to convince the superintendent to let them in. After the superintendent leaves, Adrian comments that Jack's fake crying looks a lot like his real crying. Jack takes this as a compliment. Adrian searches for clues, but he notices Jack pocketing some of Lindsey's loose change, and Adrian is less than thrilled and forces him to put the money back. Just then, Jack notices something weird: there are several photos of Lindsey on the wall are all out of focus, photos that are so terrible that it's obvious Lindsey would never have hung them herself. Adrian agrees with Jack, and finds the discards in a drawer, and deduces that someone else must have come by within the past day or so, and recently removed the original photos that were there, and replaced them with distorted versions, to conceal evidence of an affair. That night, Jack is watching The Incredible Shrinking Man while Adrian tries to sleep. Adrian finally goes out and the two brothers bond over the movie, which is one of their dad's favorites. Adrian notices that Jack is reading a book about Paraguay. After vacuuming the popcorn crumbs, they share a bowl of cinnamon-flavored popcorn and debate whether Jack, Sr. was a terrible father. Jack, Jr. puts in that, to be fair, their father was never exactly the same after Jack's mother died. Adrian realizes that he's caught Jack red-handed in yet another lie - the woman on the phone obviously is his girlfriend - and calls Stottlemeyer, instructing him to bring his handcuffs. Before Stottlemeyer arrives, Jack begs for another chance, calling Adrian his big brother. When Stottlemeyer arrives, Adrian can't bring himself to turn Jack in so he lies and says he woke up when he heard Jack making a loud noise and mistook it for a prowler. Stottlemeyer starts to leave, but as he's about to head out the door, he informs Adrian and Jack that Logan has just turned up dead in the prison, having been stabbed in the neck with a shiv. Apparently, he wasn't smart in choosing his nickname. During his session with Dr. Bell next day, Adrian mentions the hypothetical case of a prisoner escaping and coming to him. He quickly also admits that hypothetically, the situation is not hypothetical, and confesses that he's harboring Jack in his apartment. Adrian explains how he used to pray that he had a real family. Dr. Bell tells Adrian that he already has a real family, but Adrian informs Dr. Bell that Jack has a four-state dragnet out on him. He also reveals that his feelings toward Jack are ambivalent - on the one hand, Jack, Jr. has admitted to being a con man and a thief, but in their less tense moments, Adrian finds himself enjoying his company - and Dr. Bell assures him that it is common for people to debate about what they owe their relatives. When Adrian mentions how Jack has a big obsession with Paraguay, Dr. Bell takes serious concern. He reluctantly explains that he has done a number of workshops at local prisons, and based on what he has learned from the inmates he's met in those workshops, it seems that Paraguay is considered to be the promised land for fugitives - under their new extradition laws, they will not extradite criminals back to the United States under any circumstances (except for those who have been indicted for murder). Adrian does not take the news very well. Back at Adrian's apartment, Jack is conning Natalie out of a donation, supposedly to build an orphanage in Quebec. Just as Natalie is handing her check to Jack, Adrian storms in, furious. He accuses Jack of lying about returning to prison - he only wants his name cleared so he can escape to Paraguay. Natalie is momentarily confused until Adrian tells her the truth about Jack's identity (Joe Endicott). Natalie is disgusted, and quickly snatches her check back. Jack begins his standard "hand to God" routine again, and Adrian spots a wristwatch on Jack's right arm. He looks at it and realizes that Jack swiped it from Lindsey Bishop's house. Jack says that, technically, it's a man's watch, meaning it probably wasn't even hers... but noticing Adrian and Natalie glaring at him, he hands it over. Adrian begins a tirade, calling Jack the most selfish person he's ever met in his life, but when he notices a set of initials engraved on the watch ("L.B., To D.R."), he solves the case. Adrian, Natalie and Jack go to Daniel Reese's rustic country farm to question him again. When they arrive, he is on the porch eating ice cream out of the container with a spoon. Jack stays by the car while Adrian and Natalie talk to Reese. Natalie is unhappy that Adrian didn't tell her Jack's real identity, but he informs her that he wasn't able to trust Jack. When they reach Reese, Adrian points out that the watch's inscription, "L.B., To D.R.", indicates that Reese (who is married) was Lindsey Bishop's fornication partner, meaning they were having an affair. Reese feigns ignorance, claiming that he's been faithful to his wife and child, and there are at least a dozen employees at the prison with his initials. Adrian corrects him, pointing out that there actually only other two people that fit that category. He apologizes and they start to walk away, but he whispers to Natalie and Jack that Reese is "the guy" - the silver spoon in his ice cream container is made from Sterling silver, and it comes from the same set that the homemade shiv used as the murder weapon came from - the spoon has the label "GOSFORD" on it, just like the weapon. He says that he's 80% sure. Suddenly Reese starts firing at them from his rooftop with a semi-automatic rifle. Adrian amends himself to 95%, and they all scramble for cover behind a tool bench. Suddenly, Jack begins shooting back at Reese with Adrian's pistol, and he tells Adrian to thank him later for "borrowing" it. Here's what (Really) Happened While under fire, Adrian explains to Natalie what happened: Reese was having an affair with Lindsey Bishop, but she must have threatened to tell his wife about the affair. Whatever happened, Reese decided to kill her. He conceived a rather simple, but brilliant plan, in which he killed her, then made it look like an inmate killed her during a botched escape attempt. Reese went to Shiv Logan, who (according to Jack) was one of the dumbest inmates in the prison. Logan took the bait when Reese handed him a map containing an "escape plan". In Reese's escape plan, he told Logan how to escape (through the sewers), where to go (to the parking lot where the murder was committed), and when to go (Monday night at 3:00 AM). The night of the murder, Reese walked Lindsey back to her car. As she was about to get into the car, he stabbed her dead, then propped her body in the driver's seat. Reese then reported for duty, took up his position in the guard tower, and waited until Logan climbed out. However, Reese didn't know that Jack had other ideas, not that it mattered - Jack says one patsy is as good as another. Just as Jack had said earlier, he crawled through the sewers, and emerged above ground at the manhole in the parking lot. As soon as he had opened the car door and the body had fallen out, Reese opened fire on him and Jack fled off into the night. The only difference in Reese's plans was that he had to silence Logan, and hence kill him. Suddenly, Jack runs out of ammo. The shootout from Reese's end seems to have ended, with Jack speculating that he may have capped off Reese. Adrian peeks a check despite Natalie's protests, and immediately Reese resumes firing, collapsing the shelf, and Adrian, Natalie, and Jack are forced to split up to different hiding spots: Jack behind a tractor, and Monk and Natalie behind a woodpile. He volunteers to run to the car to get Natalie's cell phone to call for help. But as soon as she throws him the keys, he runs over to the car, and quickly makes a speedy retreat. Reese comes down from the rooftop. With no way to defend themselves, Adrian and Natalie are out of luck. But just as Reese moves in, and raises his rifle to shoot his prey, they hear a noise, and Jack, driving Natalie's car, bursts through the fence and runs Reese over. It seems that he was actually finding a different way to overpower Reese. Adrian is impressed, and even more impressed when Jack decides not to run, but to wait to be taken back into custody. Adrian and Natalie visit Jack outside the police station, where he is being taken back to prison. While there, Stottlemeyer takes a call on his phone and then informs them that Reese has just regained consciousness at the hospital. He's confessed to killing both Lindsey Bishop and Norman Logan. Jack has been slapped with extra jail time for his escape, but at least he's been cleared of the murder charge. Adrian finally acknowledges that he's proud to consider Jack a full brother, "rounding up" from half-brother. Jack prods Adrian into giving him a hug. However, as Jack is taken away in the van, Randy notices that his handcuff keys are missing. When Natalie asks him if there's anything wrong, Randy decides the handcuff keys must have been in his other suit. Background Information and Notes *Jack, Jr.'s first appearance, after his existence was made known in "Mr. Monk Meets His Dad."' *Technical Error: When Jack Jr is returning fire with Monk's gun, just before he runs out of bullets, he fires two rounds towards the roof, and just before the camera cuts, you can see the action slide back showing he is out of ammo. The very next shot, he fires two more rounds towards the roof and the slide locks back again, which is impossible. *Monk, who previously gorged on some pancakes for the first time since his childhood while he was hypnotized into the mind of a seven-year old during "Mr. Monk Gets Hypnotized," has apparently developed a taste for them in the intervening months, as evidenced by the fact he is making them in the opening. 7.10